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Mi Cocina: Galleria Dallas Holiday Dine-Around 2013

Are food preferences genetic? If they are then there’s a pretty good chance that my love of chips and salsa comes from my mother, rather than the fact that I’m a native Texan. We had the privilege of visiting Mi Cocina in Galleria Dallas for a sampling of their holiday menu. Now, I can’t imagine there are many of you who haven’t been to at least one Mi Cocina. But if you are a creature of habit chances are you stop in and order your usual and go on with your day. In case you are wondering my usual is called “The Ana.” However, during our preview dinner I found two new favorites (more about that in a moment).

One of the unique features of this location of Mi Cocina is it’s on the ice skating rink level of the mall. The night we were there the skaters were practicing for their holiday show. The open design allows you to see the Christmas tree, all of the levels of the mall and the shoppers passing by. It’s hard not to get in the holiday spirit sitting so close to all of the activity!

We started off with samples of Mi Cocina’s signature Mambo Taxi as well as Jalapeno Agave Margaritas. The Mambo Taxi is a classic frozen margarita with Sauza Blanco tequila and Mi Cocina’s home-made Sangria – you can find this staple year-round at all of the Mi Cocinas. The other drink I’d never tried before, it was certainly an interesting combo – Sweet Heat Agave nectar topped with both a frozen margarita base and chilled, shaken margarita rocks with jalapeno salsa.

The first dish (one of my new favorites!) was Red Chile Chicken Pozole. This is a spicy mexican soup with chicken, hominy, cabbage, cilantro and lime. I love spicy food, especially during the winter! I will certainly order this again.

Normally I prefer fish or chicken, but I quite liked the steak dish we were served following the soup. It’s called Spicy Arrachera Steak. They were tamales covered in poblano cream sauce with steak on top. The flavor was surprising and I loved it! But, it’s a very rich dish so I might recommend sharing this with someone. I loved the poblano sauce so much I ended up using it as a dipping sauce for the flautitas they brought us next! Isn’t it lovely?

The last dish at Mi Cocina was one I’ve had many times, it’s an easy appetizer to split when you have large groups – Flautitas de Pollo.

Disclaimer: Our food and drinks for the evening were covered by the fine folks at the Galleria Dallas. All of the opinions expressed in this series belong to DallasFoodNerd contributors. We certainly left our media preview evening full and happy. Stay tuned for the rest of the series!